It was a celebration of forward thinking; the kind of thinking that should be widespread, but until recently, was in the minority. The Costa Awards 2012 awarded a graphic novel a top prize, while recognising the talents of female authors in five categories, The Guardian Reports.

Mary Talbot's Dotter of her Father's Eyes was named biography of the year. "It is a good thing for graphic novels as a whole," said Bryan Talbot, father of the winner, illustrator of the book, and the man behind The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and Alice in Sunderland and who has provided strips for Judge Dredd and Batman. "Graphic novels are becoming increasingly accepted as a legitimate art form. We are living in the golden age of graphic novels. There are more and better comics being drawn today than ever in the history of the medium and there's such a range of styles of artwork, of genre and of subject matter."

While the win didn't come as a surprise on the night, it's only because the Talbot family have known about the win for months. "It has been really hard keeping quiet about it," said Mary. "We were astonished. Just being shortlisted was amazing and hearing we'd won the category was stunning. We're delighted of course, both personally - it's the first story I've had published - but also for the medium, I can't believe a graphic novel has won."

Elsewhere in the awards, which are famous for containing only 5 categories, Hilary Mantel won the novel award for Bring Up the Bodies; Francesca Segal won first novel for The Innocents; Kathleen Jamie's The Overhaul came first in poetry; and Sally Gardner's Maggot Moon was named children's book of the year.